Amusement device.



AMUSEMENT DBVIGE.

APPLICATION FILED nov. 21, 1911 Patented Apr. 23, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

A.- M. RISKS. AIUQBIENT DEVIGE.

APPLIOA'IIOI Hun 10v. 21, 1911. .1 ,024,283, Patented Apr.23, 1912.

3 BHEBTB-SHEET 2.

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( .21 Rodi J 5 1 A. M. RIGKS.

,AMUSEMENT DEVICE.

nrmoumn nun NOV. 21, 1911,

1 O24,283. M Patented Apr. 23, 1912.

3 BHBBTBSHEBT 3.

I i A Q hlwlw J2? H ALVA M. KICKS, DE LOS ANGELES, GALIFORNIA.

AMUSEMENT DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 23, 1912.

Application filed November 21, 1911. Serial No. 661,509.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALVA M. Ruins, a citizen of the United States,residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles, State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in AmusementDevices, of which the following is if specification.

This invention relatesto an amusement device of the racing class; and ithas to do particularly with a racing apparatus in which there isprovided a novel form of track. in combination with suitable truckstraveling thereon, for producing a movement peculiarly suited forcarrying 'equestrian figures and for imitating equestrian movenients-although any sort. of carriages may be mounted on the trucks and inwhich people may ride.

The invention consists primarily in the provision of a suitable platformbeneath which a track is arranged. the track comprising a pair of railsone placed above the other. These rails have raised curved portionswhich cause the trucks traveling there on to rise: and the curves may bemade of any desired character so as to obtain a move ment of any kind.The trucks traveling on the rails are so constructed that the horsessupported and carried by the trucks will ri e in a realistic manner asin leaping a hurdle or other barrier; and l place hurdles upon theplatform over which the horses will be raised by the mechanism below}the apparent et'tcct being: that the horses travel alongliorizontally;up to the hurdles and.

then leap them in a natural manner. I also prefer to provide twotraelcs, one within the other. and to provide such driving means for thetrucks thereon that the speed of the trucks on the separate tracks maybe varied at. will. This provides for racing the trucks on theditl'ereut tracks, allowing one truck to pass the other as on a realracecourse. This variation of speed preferably etiecled by providingeach truck or group of trucks with a driving motor and controlling thecurrent to the driving motor through the means of a. rheostat or otherelectrical controller. in my preferred form of apparatus 1 have providedfor a similarity to a. real racewcourse and have mounted a controllingstation at a convenient point on the course --:it a positioncorresponding to the position of the judges stantl-and have mounted thecontroller therein; but this arrangement may be made as desired.

The structure and minor combinations of my device will be bestunderstood from the following specification and the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan of my complete apparatus. portions being broken awayfor purposes of illustratio Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of aportion of the apparatus. Fig.3 is a side elevation of a portion of themechanism shown in Fig. 2, looking from the opposite side of the device.Fig. 4 is a cross section taken as indicated by line 4-4. of Fig. 2. y

In the drawings 10 designates a platform which preferably covers theentire apparatus, extending outside of the outer track 11 as is bestindicated in Fig. 1 and covering the Whole space within inner track 12 Ihave provided a landing platform 13 and steps 14 for the convenience ofpassengers. The surface of the platform 10 may be provided with anydesired embellishments and may be made to imitate a racecourse asclosely as desired. At a suitable point on the platform 10 I have shownthe control. ling stand 15, this controlling stand being made to imitatea. judge's stand. Tracks 11 and 12 are each composed of an upper and alower rail 20 and 21 and these rails are supported on upright postsbraclid by means of members 23, so that the whole construction is maderigid and durable. The platform 10 is supported by any suitable means:and 1 have shown members 24 particularly for the support of the platform10 between the tracks 11 and 12. Just inside each track there is a slot10" cut in the platform, these slots being for the accommodation of thevertical posts which project upwardly from the trucks to carry thefigures on their upper ends. Posts 22 rest upon suitable sills 25; andthe number of these sills and posts will depend entirely upon the sizeof the whole apparatus. I have shown only a few of these supportingmembers; in a large apparatus the posts 22 would probably be spaced notmore than eight or ten feet apart. The rails 20 and 21 are preferablycomposed of suitable backings lOfiand 21, say of Wood, and facings 2.K191" of steel or other durable mate- I'Hl I have provided trucks 30 totravel upon the tracks and these trucks are so constructed that, intraveling over curved p0rtionsQO and 21" of the rails, they will takelfr'lltllll angular positions as will hereinafter appear; each of thetrucks is preferably comprised in two upright portions 31 which carryupper wheels 32 and lower wheels 33 engaging with the upper and lowerrails respectively. Upper wheels 32 are preferably small in all of thetrucks; while lower wheels 3323 are usually made larger than the upperwheels, and in the forward or drivine truck I have made wheels 33 largertlwu in the other or trailing trucks. Upright portions 3i are joined byhorizontal portions 3% and in these horizontal portions is placed apivoted joint 35 so as to allow flexibility of the truck in passingaround horizontal curves. On the driving truck the driving motor 36 ispreferably supported by frames 37 in somewhat the manner illustrated,and this driving motor 36 carries a bevel pinion 3S meshing with gearteeth 39 on one of driving Wheels Current is supplied to the motor 36through the medium of a circuit, one portion of which is formed by atrolley 40 pivoted at 4-1 to the truck frame and having a wheel 42running on trolley wire 43 located on insulators 44 beneath the lowerrail. A. wire 45 connects the trolley wheel with one side of the motorand the other side of the motor is connected by wire. 46 with theframework of the truck. Through the framework ofthe trurl; and throughthe wheels the circuit pa, to the metallic facing 21 of the lower trawlCurrent is supplied to the lower track facing 21" on one side and t0 thetrol- Er v wire 43 on the other side through the medium of wires 4-7 and48, wire 48 connect,- ing lacing 21? with a generator 49, wire 4?connecting trolley wire $3 with controller 5-0. and a wire- 51connecting the controller with the generator 4-9.

I may connect as many trailing trucks to he driving truck I findconvenient and ncressary. The trailing trucks are constructed similar yto the driving truck with the exceptions noted--that the lower wheelsare preferably smaller and that there is no motor on the trailingtrucks. Connection between adjacent trucks is made b means of a draftbar connected throng universal joints 6] with the two trucks. in thetrailing trucks I may employ a can- ;struction in which the uprights 31are connected by horizontal member 34, and this horizontal member isconnected to each up right through the medium of a pivoted joint 35.This will make a pr nted oint mar each upright member 3] instead of asingle pivoted joint 35 as in the form of trucic first described andpreferably for the driving truck. in each trncl: each 11 rightIPIIll'lEY 3 --at the forward end 0 each truck -carrics an upright postwhich projects up through slot 10 in platform 10.

'6 Th se posts 70 carry on their upper ends frames 71 which are of suchconfiguration as to allow the mounting of two horses, or othercarriages, 72 on each of the posts. Thus each truck carries foul horses;and the arrangement becomes somewhat similar to the showing of Fig. 1.It will be observed, particularly from Figs. 2 and 3, that theindividual trucks will pass over the raised curved portions of thetracks in the manner as illustrated in Fig. 2 and in angular positions;so that the horses will rise over the curves in a realistic manner. Thatis, the horses heads will first rise in coming to the curve and willfirst lower in passing oil the curve. This is one of the features of myinvention and I have provided to make the effect more realistic byplacing suitable hurdles or other barriers 80 in the paths of the horsesand over which the horses have the appearance of leaping. 35 But otherforms of carriages may be used, as some persons usually prefer achair-like seat; and such a seat may be provided by mounting a chariotor other vehicle imitation on the rear uprights of a truck and imounting horses on the forward uprights.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In combination, a pair of rails arranged one above the other and eachhav ing raised curved portions therein, a truck cpmprising a framehaving a horizontally swinging pivoted joint therein, forward and rearwheels on the truck bearing on each of the rails, and a motor on thetruck and mechanically connected to one of the wheels.

2. In combination, a platform, a track comprising a pair of railsarranged one above the other and beneath the platform, each rail havingraised curved ortions therein, and a hurdle mounted on t e latformadjacent the curved portions 0 the rails; a truck comprising a framehaving a horizontally swingin pivoted joint therein and having uprig tmembers at its'no forward and rear ends, u r and lower wheels on each ofthe uprig tme'mbers of the truck and bearing on the upper and lowerrails, an electric motor mounted on the truck and mechanically connectedto one of the lower wheels, equestrian figures mounted above theplatform and supported on the truck, and means including a controller tosupply electrical energy to the electric motor on the truck.

3. In combination, a platform, a, track comprising a pair of railsarranged one above the other beneath the platform, each rail havingraised curved portions therein; a plurality of trucks each comprising a12:- frame composed of forward and rear upright members and a horizontalconnecting member between the uprights, there being a horizontallyswinging pivoted joint in the horizontal connecting member, wheels onxx. upper and lower ends of each of the up rigbts and bearing .on theupper and-lower rails, mechanically connecting means between the severaltrucks, an electric motor I wanted on one of said trucks and mechaniityconnected to one of the lower wheels .crreof; an upright post extendingup- :vardl from each of the truck uprights, there ing a slot in theplat-form through which the upri ht posts pass, a carriage zontalmovement of t e wheels f om the Hacks, and a motor on the truck frameconwrtczl to one of the wheels. I

5 in combination, a pair of rails arranged one above the other andcurving in martin-at and horizontal planes, a truck arrangedsubstantially in a vertical plane and including a frame having ahorizontally swinging joint therein, upwardly projecting posts carryingequine figures above the frame, forward and rear pairs of wheels bearingon the upper and lower tracks, and

means to prevent lateral horizontal movement of the wheels from thetracks.

6. In combination, a pair of rails arranged one above the other andcurving in vertical and horizontal planes, a truck arranged substantiallin a vertical plane and. including a frame having forward and rearvertical members connected by a horizontally swinging joint, each ofsaid members rojecting upwardly and carrying an e uine gure above theupper rail, a pair oi eels arranged on each of said frame me, ibers andbearing one against the upper rail and the other against the lower rail,and means to prevent thelateral horizontal movement of the wheels fromthe rails.

7. In combination, a pair of rails arranged one above the other, a truckarranged substantially in a vertical plane and including a pair ofvertical frame members, each of said frame members projecting upwardlyand carrying an equine fi re above the upper track,'a air of whee s oneach of the frame mem ers engaging one beneath the upper track and theother above the lower track, and means to prevent the lateral horizontalmovement of the wheels away from the rails.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my namethis 9th day of November, 1911.

. ALVA M. RICKS.

Witnesses:

JAB. H. BALLAGH, BESSIE MoMonmn.

